Website Navigation

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Desert Camps... Boondocking Budgets... and NASCAR!

I moved camp yesterday... Not 'cause I really wanted to... but 'cause the BLM keeps fairly close tabs on the 14 day rule of that Plomosa Road area... since they had my name on a permit, figured I'd live by the rules... sort of...

So... we moved north and a bit east across "the line"... into legal territory. :o) truth is just a touch over 20 miles... our nearest neighbor is almost a half mile back toward the pavement... just off there to the right...

This is dry country... a cow has to open her mouth wide... hang it down on the ground like a scoop shovel... and then run like hell, all day long, to get enough to not lose weight... too... fast! :o)

... but for a boondocker, just wanting a place to use up some of the winter, where the thermometer doesn't have to be defrosted before it can let you know how cold it is... it'll work... and, no shortage of space.

This would actually be a pretty good place for folks wanting to learn the boondocking ropes, to spend a while early in their rv boondocking travels... at least if they start in the winter! 120 round here in the summer might get as nasty as the 4 degree blizzards back yonder...

There's dumps and water in Bouse and Quarzsite. Groceries in Bouse, Quarzsite and good Ol' Wally World in Parker... a real good laundry over to Parker... and... for the folks worried about finding places to set up... it's almost... pick a spot and shut the engine off easy here, to pick a camp.

Then... shine up all those attributes by it being tee total free living when it comes to camp/parking costs... a good thing for those of us... NOT... wandering in the Diesel Pusher, rubber tired Mansions. :o) ... and then... parked way out here... those folks in the Diesel Mansions... can't see me drooling over their rigs. :o)

... just a lil' honesty in advertising :o)

*First Sunrise in a New Camp... near Bouse, Arizona*

Last night the sky was so clear and dark, the stars sparkled like diamonds... though Plomosa was quiet... there were enough rigs around, it wasn't noisy... but, you could always hear... something... here... the night was silent, only the breeze in the creosote bush and the sound of your own breathing... intimidating to some... soul filling requirement... on occasion, for others.

*Eastern View from Bouse Camp*

*Morning light on the Saguaros*

The "official" rule out here is still 14 days... but... to be honest... I don't think, if you aren't causing trouble and trashing the countryside, that anyone is gonna enforce that rule too much...

Though... it looks like I'll be obeying it anyway...

I'm taking Heidi to Phoenix in the Morning... She's going to Tucson for the Gem and Mineral show... me I'll be coming back here to hopefully get some writing work done... right after I do a job interview...

Now... don't get your shorts all knotted up... not about to leave the road...

This actually looks like the kind of "workamping" jobs I'd like to line up several of... work a week or two, at relatively pleasant events... with a month or so between short periods of doing different things... in different places... I could handle that...

It's for a NASCAR event in Phoenix... in February... one week, working a Nascar Race... with pretty good pay, plus a dry camp spot for no charge... then... it's back to another camp on the back side of beyond for me...

... and that will leave us with an unbroken string since Thanksgiving. Outside of a couple motel nights on our Christmas run to Denver... we've not dropped a nickle on camp fees since the camp on the banks of Lake Mohave in Nevada, back at Thanksgiving... and now, with our mileage slowed, way down... our budget is slowly crawling back into line... padding it with a short stint helping out at a NASCAR event will help...

GLD... "happened" across this one in a casual conversation. I think, that tuning up your ears to "Hear" the opportunities when they present is likely the key... and something I need to improve on... I suppose some call it "Networking"... Damn... I already became a badly Over-electronicalized cowboy... I hope I'm not morphing into some Networking-on-his-blackberry-listening-to-his-Ipod-while-texting-on-his-droid as he types out another page on the laptop... Geek! ;o)

That neighbor 1/2 mile away didn't do a good job of leveling, did he? You got a good picture! You know, boondocking in the NF used to be free, too, let's hope that doesn't happen where you are!I haven't got out there yet!!!But, deisel $3.50 gal. holding me back!!!!!!! ===Fred===

Fred; Uh... that's my rig in the picture :o) just showin' the space we have... Actually, she's dead level... Though I can see why you'd think maybe it was crooked... I guess there's an optical illusion in the pic somehow... but I swear! I didn't park it lopsided! :o)

Just watched an RV related special of Nascar race car drivers. Wow! l.2 Million dollar rigs... and the background noise was deafening while they were interviewed. Crowded parking of rigs.. so if you go to work one, you will be a drooling cowboy for that big, wide-open spaces of quiet...can't wait to hear about your experience should you work for a week at this one.

Just bought my first e-book. Thanks to you I now have Kindle for p.c. and can do my reading that way. For a broke down old cowboy you're not bad. Thank you for the encouragement. Full-timing is the only way for a retired oleman to go. Ed